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Sunday, September 30, 2012

It is Sunday and you know what that means, I am linking up with Neely and Ashley for Sunday Social! This past week has been so busy for me, we have packed up and moved from Houston to Oklahoma. We are still unpacking our last few boxes and now trying to get wall hanings up and making this place feel more like "home".

1. What do you miss most about being a kid?

The thing I miss most about being a kid is not having any responsibility! I loved the days when all I had to worry about was if my friend was going to get to come and spend the night or weekend with me. You know how it is if you knew now what you knew then there would be a few things done differently here in my adult life.

2. Did you have a nickname growing up? What was it?

Well with my name being Lindsey most of my friends and family called me (still do) Lins. My uncle has always called me Linzer. So really I go by both of those names, rarely am I called "Lindsey".

3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess?

I like to think that I did not just have one specific group at school. I always tried to be friends with everyone. With that being said I would just kind of float from group to group. Some days I would swing others I would play games or play on the monkey bars.

4. What did you want to be when you grew up?

Both of my parents worked at our school. Our school is small so our elementry, Junior High, and High School is all connected. My mom worked as a aide for 20 years at the school in various parts of the building. My dad taught for 38 years in the Junior High and High School. With having grown up in the school system I thought I wanted to be a teacher. I started out going to college with teaching as my major. As time had gone on I just didn't have the passion for it. So I switched my major and went toward business. I am now a stay at home mom which is the perfect job for me! :)

5. What was your favorite toy?

I loved me some Barbies! I had the barbies that you could actually play with then I also collected the Barbies that came out around Christmas time. I still have the Barbies that I collected!

6. What is the funniest thing you did as a kid that your parents still remind you about?

My parents and I have a really close relationship so there were a lot of funny things I did and we did. One thing that I can think of off the top of my head was when I was driving the lawn mower for fun. With coming from a small town there is not really a lot to do most of the time. So I got my kicks out of driving my dads mower. I guess I just kind of zoned out but I was up ontop of the hill at the house and got a little to close to the air conditioner when I was turning and totally ran into it. My dad heard the crash, I freaked turned off the mower and went and hid and cried in my room. My mom came in to find out what was going on and she was laughing, dad ended up laughing once he knew I didn't screw anything up.

I also hit my dads precious 1978 Ford black truck. This truck was known around town and heard too. Dad and I were playing softball in the yard he pitched me a ball and I swung my bat as hard as I could and smack hit the truck leaving a huge ass dent on the front side of the truck. We both were in shock but he just said well I guess I should have moved the truck before we started playing.

Next Weeks Questions:

Next week we are switching it up on you! There aren't questions...WHA? Instead its an open ended kind of day all about Fall. Link up a recipe, your favorite fashion picks, trends, TV shows you love, movies you're excited to see, decor you love from Pinterest etc. Basically if it is remotely related to fall its acceptable. This will probably be done every few months for each season so get excited!!!!

Link up with Ashley and I! Lets get Social! #SundaySocial on Twitter/Instagram

Also if you have ideas for questions feel free to email them to us!!

Lastly I am almost to 50 followers!! Once I hit 50 I will be doing my very first GIVEAWAY!!!! :)

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

I had so much fun linking up with Michelle from The Vintage Apple that I knew I had to do it again this week! I thought that since I am moving tomorrow that it would be fitting that my pins be about what I would like in my dream home! Some of these things I think I could get my husband to make if I really asked nicely! :) Also don't forget to come follow me on Pinterest!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Hello Lovelies! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! This weekend was our very last one in Houston, I am completley excited about that little tidbit! Moving right along we are going to just skip to Saturday because I think that was the most fun!

On Monday I got a tweet from Langford Market that I had won a $200 gift certificate. They were at the Houston Blogger Symposium, one of their incentives was to take a picture of a fall outfit that you liked and tweet about it, winner would be chosen Monday. My response when I read that was "Shut it" classy huh! Since Lacey couldn't get time away from her family my husband and two kids went with me.

I did not take any pictures I was way to busy looking through all of the racks of clothing! This is the cutest little boutique ever! They had fresh cookies out, the girls working in their were so nice and very attentive. While I was pulling the items I wanted to try on Taylor (one of the sweetest ladies that works there) said she would start pulling items too. Let's note my style is very plain! HA I don't do wild patterns if I even do a pattern. I am a stay at home mom so my clothes is not as exciting as it used to be. I ended up two sweaters one which I will wear with some leggings, tank, cardigan, and this really pretty light blue silk shirt.

The prices are pretty reasonable ranging from what I got the tank was around $10 and the shirts ranged from $30-50 each. I kept eyeing some of their handbags, oh my ladies these are gorg bags! They have tons of jelewry to customize your outfit too! Right now they are having a jewlery sale of buy one get one free. Langford has several locations but I went to the one in Rice Village.

After shopping we were starting to head back home when I saw it..right there..it was Rocky andMaggie's! You are probably thinking what the hell is Rocky and Maggie's, well if you watch TLC you will know them at The Little Couple. They own a store not far from where we were shopping. The store is a dog store named after their dogs. The Little Couple is my moms favorite show, naturally I got excited and started squeeling while telling my mom. Todd drove back around and so Brayden and I could hop out and go in and look. After all we had to check it out and see if they were in there and of course to check the store out!

The day we went they were having an adoption event for cats and dogs. According to my mom they have events often at their store. Unfortunately they were not in there but we did talk to some really cute animals. :) My mom had informed me if there was a blonde lady working that would be Jen's mom, well their were two blondes so I didn't dare and go ask. One was looking at me crazy becuase I was snapping photos the second I walked in. :)

Sunday, September 23, 2012

It is Sunday again so you know what that means, Sunday Social with Neely and Ashley! I am starting to really enjoy doing this link ups on Sunday! They are really fun and make you really think! I can't wait to tell you about our Saturday, I got so excited on Saturday and needless to say while on the phone with my mom we were like school kids squealing! That story will come on Monday!

1. What is something you have wanted to do but are afraid of?

Oh goodness I am afraid of my own shadow most of the time! One thing that I am scared of that doesn't require a dangerous activity is finishing my Bachelor's degree. You see I really really suck at math. Math is a big mind block fear for me. I've got two classes left and I don't like to say I quit but I like to say that I have it on hold for the moment.

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I would hope that we would have baby #3. Although I wouldn't mind carrying another baby but I have always wanted to adopt a baby. I was adopted and I have always wanted to do the same with one of my children.

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2012?

Not moving again for another year and staying in the house for longer than three months! I can't wait to live at this new place and have a yard again that our dogs and kids can actually go outside and run! If you live in Oklahoma please hit me up!

4. What are your hopes for your blog?

I hope to watch my blog grow with new readers. With the new readers I hope to form a friendship that will last. I am not into blogging to make money, I am into it to document events or thoughts going on with us. I do advertise but I have yet to charge anyone for sponsor space. I just don't feel like I have a big enough following but I honestly can't wait until I hit some milestones such as 100 readers, 500 readers, then 1,000. Due to my blog I made a friend a month into living here in TX.

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city?

I can't answer this one yet because we are moving Thursday to Oklahoma which hopefully is our new place for awhile. I did know that when I was living in Indiana that I did not see us always living there. Todd and I both grew up in Indiana and we wanted to experience something new. For some reason I had always wanted to live in Charleston, S.C. even though I had never been there. Living in Houston for the past three months I knew we would not always live in this city. The city is WAY to BIG for us and to fast paced. I grew up in a town with a population of 2,500 people.

6. What is your morning routine?

Get up about 6:15-6:30 shower and get ready for the day. 7:15-7:30 wake both boys up, grab a diaper for Gannon, go downstairs and start breakfast. Grab coffee and start making bubs lunch for school, get his bookbag together, serve breakfast. Run back up stairs brush both kids teeth, grab bubs clothes and toss them on his bed, get Gan dressed, make my bed then I go and make bubs bed. Once everyone is ready we've usually have about 15 mins to watch a little cartoons while I check email, fb, twitter, and my blog. Take bub to school get back from taking him and start playing with Gannon. At 9:00 I turn on Live with Kelly and Michael and we watch it and play. By 11:00-12:00 around that time Gannon goes down for nap. Go grab a button from Neely or Ashley and link up! Here are the questions for next week. Next Weeks Questions: All About our Childhoods!1. What do you miss most about being a kid?2. Did you have a nickname growing up? What was it?3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess?4. What did you want to be when you grew up?5. What was your favorite toy?6. What is the funniest thing you did as a kid that your parents still remind you about?

Friday, September 21, 2012

Today I am linking up with Kate from 2 Kids a minivan and a Mortgage. If you have not gone to her site yet you really need too! I can't remember how I found her blog but it was at a time about 20 months ago (give or take) that her family discovered their little girl Lucy had cancer. There are some posts that just made you want to cry! I really wish I could meet this family; they seem to be so loving, caring, and close knit.

Today is that day to showcase your business but since I do not have a business I knew that I HAD to post about my Aunt Theresa's shop. I think she has a fun shop and not to mention I love her dearly and I am the favorite neice! HA HA

This is Hollie from Hollies Eats and Treats

The shop name is called Hollies Eats and Treats. She named her shop after one of her three Sheltie's. The shop has been open for two years, and with all the growth they've had, there is already talk of expanding the building! The shop is open Monday-Friday but if you call and let her know you need something she will open up especially for you. Homeade cupcakes and cakes are made every 1-2 days. She uses only the best and most healthy ingredients for the dogs.

Hollies Eats and Treats does not offer just yummy treats for your pooch they also offer all kinds of supplies for them too! You can expect to see several different sizes of dog beds ranging in price and size from a small $10 bed all the way to a large bed for $28. If you need a size that is not in her shop, just let her know and she will be able to get the size that you would like.

This is just a portion of the beds that are at the shop.

Of course we want to keep our dogs fashionable so naturally there are going to be clothes offered too! The clothes range in prices and sizes from $8.00 for small pieces all the way to $22.00 for large pieces. Again do not worry if you don't see a cute little outfit for your dog there is someone that she partners up with that makes the clothes.

This picture does not include the homeade clothes and it is just a portion of the wall!

This is just a small portion of all the items that are stocked at Hollies Eats and Treats. You can expect to find various sizes of collars, harnesses, teether balls, bones, ceramic bowls, flea and tick medicine, pet carriers, pet crates, and so much more.

If you are going on vacation and you need someone reliable to take care of your dog, Hollies Eats and Treats also does boarding. Her prices are SO reasonable running around $10 a day if your little fur baby does not need something extra. This is not a normal boarding place, your animal gets treated like they are a KING or QUEEN. If you bring the dog in the winter there is a heater in the boarding room, in the summer the building has a/c in it! She takes the dogs out and walks them and makes sure they get to stretch their legs and are not in the crate the entire time you are gone. There is some spoiling going on, I mean she does make homeade treats ya know! She gives each animal so much love and affection when she is caring for them. She treats them like they are her own animal.

Now I know you are probably thinking, HOW DO I GET A HOLD OF THIS PLACE! You may go onto her Facebook page here. It has her number on the page and she checks her page daily so if you have a question about your cute little pooch just write her a message and she will get back to you very quickly. If you are wanting to purchase from her but don't live near her or in the same state, don't worry, she will mail the items you would like; U.S. shipping only. Most of the items in Hollie's Eats and Treats shop are homemade. The prices will beat the chain store prices anyday and not to mention the customer service. Theresa, who is my Aunt, works the shop herself and when you call or write her you will get the response from her only. I know that when I need something for one of my three large dogs I call her first and she gets me the items I need.

So what are you waiting for you better hurry and go check out Hollies Eats and Treats! You need to do all your animal shopping here!

*There are a few items for your furry little cat. There is more coming in stock within the next few months.**The pictures are taken from an Iphone, I gave her very short notice for pictures.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Hey everyone I don't know about you but I am sure glad that the weekend is almost here! This post may be a little random but stick with me please?

1. I am not sure if you remember me telling me about one of my really good friends from back home and her son. If not her son has a inoperable tumor placed at his brain stem. Over the summer he went for six weeks daily to do Proton Therapy. He is now done with that therapy and they are waiting to go to Pittsburgh for an experiemental shot. Last night he spiked a fever and had to get rushed to the ER. As the night progressed his fever went up a little higher. They are now admitted to the hospital. Unfornatelly the survior rate is very slim they are only giving this precious little boy two years. Can yo please pray for this family. This sweet little boy also has a twin brother. They both are the sweetest and cutest. They have a facebook page set up called Peyton's Angels. Would you mind going and liking and please take a moment to pray for Peyton?

2. Todd took Brayden to watch the shuttle get piggy backed in yesterday. They thought it was pretty cool. Here are a couple of pics from yesterday.

3. My blog is messed up at the moment. I have no idea what is going on with it but hold tight I will get it fixed. I can't see anything on the side such as my button, followers, my past post NOTHING! Doesn't that just aggravate ya when something like that happens!

Monday, September 17, 2012

A few things before we get down to the delicious Chicken and Gnocchi soup recipe!

First I want to say WELCOME to my new readers! I am so EXCITED you are following me! I can't wait to get your comments and start building a relationship!

Second I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who either commented, wrote me on Facebook, emailed me, and/or texted me on Friday's post. I was very vulnerable and I just couldn't hold it in. I did feel better once I had written everything down and go it out in the open. If you missed that post you can catch up on it here.

Moving right along, I love to cook like a lot! I really want to take a cooking class and a baking class. I think that would be so much fun. When I am in the kitchen I am usually just eyeballing my ingredients, I rarely measure things out. One of my parents and I favorite soup is from Olive Garden, the Chicken and Gnocchi soup. One day after eating there with them I had decided I was going to try to recreate it. I did Google it so I could kind of get an idea on what they used for the liquid portion. From there everything else is mine and what I had tossed in a big pot and just started cooking away. I really hope y'all enjoy this soup!

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Chicken
and Gnocchi Soup

Ingredients

2T butter

2T flour

1 qt. half and half

celery, finely diced (put the amount you and your family like)

onion, finely dice ( I eyeball about a 1/4-1/2 cup)

minced garlic cloves (put the amount you and your family like. We love garlic so I put three cloves)

28 ounce can of chicken broth, If you want your soup a thicker
consistency add half the amount of broth

carrots, finely chopped (put the amount your family likes. I put more carrots then celery, I just like the flavor that it puts out)

chicken
breasts, cooked and diced (I usually boil my chicken then cut it up from there.)

1 package gnocchi, cooked

fresh spinach coarsely chopped (amount your family likes, spinach shrinks a lot when it is cooked)

parsley

salt (to taste)

Instructions

1. Saute the onion, celery,
and garlic with a little EVOO and medium heat until the onion becomes starts to brown. Put items in a separate dish, set off to the side.
Add the flour and butter and make a roux (If you don't know what a roux is let me know)
(Flour and butter must be equal). Let the butter and flour mixture cook until
is starts to brown(you want to make sure the flour is cooked well or you will
get a flour taste) before adding 1 quart of half and half.

2. Cook gnocchi according to
package directions. If you can not find gnocchi in your store you can make your own with instants mashed potatoes.

3. Into the roux, add in the
carrots, chicken and the items that you set off to the side. Once the mixture becomes thick, add the chicken broth.
Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and
seasoning; simmer until soup is heated through. Before serving season to
taste by adding additional salt.

Oh goodness this one is hard I have so many favorite books. I would have to say Lifeguard by James Patterson. It was one of my first books I read of his and I could not put it down. I read this once I started getting back into reading and my little library on my kindle has just grown to tons of books.

3. Something you'd like to accomplish before the end of 2012.

This may sound silly but I would like to not move again for the rest of this year! So far in 2012 I have lived in Indiana (grew up there), Houston (have lived here for three months), and now getting ready to head to Oklahoma. All of these moves have been for my husbands job. :)

4.
If you could go back and relive any year of your life which year would
it be? I would relive 2009...that was an awesome year.

I would go back to 2003 the year I got married and relive that over again. I would plan our wedding a little differently but I would totally relive that day! My cheeks hurt by the end of the evening from smiling so much!

5.
What do you wish people knew about you without you having to tell them?

I feel like I am very shy when you first meet me then once we get the conversation started I break through my shyness and really show how much of an outgoing person I am. I really judge myself to harshly too.

Friday, September 14, 2012

When I found out we were going to move to Texas from Indiana the first thing I started to do was research schools. I spent hours reading all about the schools, looking at their ratings, going over their curriculium, and looking up their teachers. Maybe this is a bit much but to us education is so so important. Todd found the house we are in and before we signed anything he went and toured the school. I sent him with a list of quesitons and things to look for when touring the school. The school that our son goes to is the same one that Todd toured; it has almost 1,000 students ranging from Kindergarten to grade 5. He stated the kids seemed so well behaved and the staff was friendly. This gave me piece of mind.

Registration came and my parents were with me. While I was doing all the paper work they toured the school and looked around and met some of the staff. The staff was very friendly, but I could tell by a look on my Dad's face something was going on. Once we left he said that the school was nice and clean but he just didn't have a good feeling. I didn't have a good feeling either, but I brushed it off to me being nervous of Bub starting a new school. Let's fast forward to meet the teacher night - she spent just a few minutes with us even though at the time, there were not that many parents there. {Every afternoon for the entire first week of school Bub would complain about how mean his classmates were to him}The first week of school every single day I went to pick him up he would complain on how mean his classmates were to him. I let it go because {I figured he was just having a hard time adjusting to his new school} it was something new to get used too. His school is much larger than last year and there are a lot more students in his homeroom. The second week of school comes and he is still complaining, I ended up running into one of the Special Ed teachers and we made sure we had a meeting together the next day. The Special Ed teacher was very helpful and so very nice. Ironically Bub brought home a picture and a note the night before my meeting. The note said "Brayden you are a jerk." I took that in and showed the teacher and she said it would be squashed because they took bullying very seriously. I thought great, this is going to end up being a pretty good place.

Now fast forward to this week. I've said before that my child has Autism, this is something that has been hard for me to finally come out and say. To me he is perfect and he does not have it, when I look at him I see a smart smart young boy. The boy knows things that children his own age would not know. My son is an emotional child with tender feelings (remember that for a second will ya?) Tuesday our son got in trouble for drawing on someone else's art project and he did something else but that is going to stay private. We discussed it with him and he realized what he did was wrong. Wednesday before I took him to school we discussed as a family again what he did wrong and how he should make it right. He was going to go in and say sorry to the kids that he wrote on the art project. He got a little emotional but by the time I took him to school he was better. I didn't notice at the time but he forgot his backpack in my vehicle. The school called asking if I could bring it to him, so I ran out of the gym and got to the school and let them know I was there to drop off his backpack. The AP (assistant principle) who is also the same person that called and asked me to bring the bag, greeted me at the door. Her first words were Hello Mrs. (insert last name), him not having his backpack has caused a lot of triggers. I asked to see my child so I could make sure he was calm and get his mind back on his school work and then go on. She refused to let me see my child, we went rounds about this for a good five minutes. I got in my car and started sobbing. You might think this is not a big deal but when you have a child of special needs they function a bit differently. Once I got home I dialed up the Superintendent to report the incident and by noon the Principle of the school was calling me. Once she had heard what all we had gone through she apologized and was going to look into everything. I told her I was 99% sure since his day had started off emotional that there would be another incident.

He got in the car complaining again and then complaining his shirt was dirty. He kept this up all evening and finally at supper told us that kids were throwing sand and dirt on him. I looked at Todd and he gave me a look but we continued to listen. That night Todd did the baths while I was doing other house duties. Todd got me alone for a second and let me know there was in fact sand in Bub's hair. When we were tucking Bub into bed we were asking him about it. He told us the kids were saying "na na na na you can't catch me!" We immediately thought they are just trying to play tag with you and be your friend. I came downstairs and wrote a note to the teacher letting her know what had been going on and what we had thought was going on. Now we are up to date to today. After school there was a note in his bag that in fact the kids were bullying my child. These kids were in fact throwing dirt and sand at my child.

By this time I am very upset, I am upset that I thought the kids were trying to play together and be his friend, I am upset because I can picture my baby standing there telling the kids to stop and these kids to continue to throw dirt on him. I hid my tears from him and got him occupied with something else. I immediatley notified the Principle of what was going on; she did respond and hopefully these kids will not bully my child again....but we will see. I finally broke and the water works came a roaring when I kept replaying my baby having the dirt and sand thrown at him. Who would do that to another person? What is wrong with kids? Where are their parents and what are the parents teaching them at home? At this age kids pick up from their parents actions and mock them. It is very disturbing that a parent would act this way in front of a young impressionable child. That is part of where the bullying starts. Now I get to sit at home and watch the clock with my stomach in knots wondering how my child is doing at school; is he okay, is he getting made fun of, is he getting called names, is he getting dirt and sand thrown at him? A school is suppose to be a "safe place" for children to learn.

If you are a parent and are reading this please discuss bullying with your child. Maybe this will help teach children if they see someone getting bullied then they can go get help for a child. This may save some constant worrying from a parent, or maybe make the child feel like the school they attend is their "safe place". One last thing, parents remember that YOU are your childs voice.

About Me

I am a stay at home mom of two boys that keep me on my toes. I'm obsessed with my three fur babies, reading, reality TV, cooking, and baking. I would like to think that I am crafty but the husband usually has to lend his Martha Stewart hand in order to have it come out the way I want it. This is just a little bit into my crazy journey. Pull up a chair and stay awhile!